2022年12月22日 VOA慢速英語：Fortnite Game Maker 因隱私和支付濫用行為支付 5.2 億美元

 

The creator of video game Fortnite has agreed to pay a total of $520 million in government fines and repayments. A government agency that oversees trade accused Fortnite of illegally collecting children's private information and carrying out misleading sales methods.
視頻游戲 Fortnite 的創(chuàng)建者已同意支付總計 5.2 億美元的政府罰款和還款。一家監(jiān)管貿易的政府機構指控《堡壘之夜》非法收集兒童的私人信息，并采取誤導性的銷售方式。
 
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced this week that it had reached an agreement with Epic Games to settle two cases against the company. The FTC is a federal agency that seeks to protect the public from deceptive business methods and unfair competition.
美國聯(lián)邦貿易委員會 (FTC) 本周宣布，它已與 Epic Games 達成協(xié)議，就針對該公司的兩起案件達成和解。FTC 是一個聯(lián)邦機構，旨在保護公眾免受欺騙性商業(yè)方法和不公平競爭的侵害。
 
The settlement requires Epic Games to pay a $275 million fine for collecting personal information on Fortnite players under the age of 13 without getting their permission or informing their parents.
和解協(xié)議要求 Epic Games 支付 2.75 億美元的罰款，因為它在未獲得 13 歲以下玩家許可或未通知其父母的情況下收集他們的個人信息。
 
Another part of the agreement seeks $245 million to be paid to Fortnite users who the FTC says were tricked into making unwanted purchases while playing the game.
該協(xié)議的另一部分要求向 Fortnite 用戶支付 2.45 億美元，聯(lián)邦貿易委員會表示，這些用戶在玩游戲時被誘騙進行了不必要的購買。
 
Epic Games released Fornite in 2017 and it has grown to become one of the most popular online video games. The FTC said in a news release that the game has more than 400 million players worldwide.
Epic Games 于 2017 年發(fā)布了 Fornite，它已發(fā)展成為最受歡迎的在線視頻游戲之一。美國聯(lián)邦貿易委員會在一份新聞稿中表示，該游戲在全球擁有超過 4 億玩家。
 
Fornite is free to download and play. But players can pay for some additional elements, such as costumes and dance moves.
Fornite 可免費下載和播放。但玩家可以為一些額外的元素付費，例如服裝和舞蹈動作。
 
The FTC accused Epic Games of using so-called "dark pattern" methods "to trick players into making unwanted purchases." Dark patterns are online tricks designed to get users to do something they might not have meant to do.
FTC 指責 Epic Games 使用所謂的“暗模式”方法“誘騙玩家進行不需要的購買”。黑暗模式是一種在線技巧，旨在讓用戶做一些他們可能不想做的事情。
 
The FTC said Epic's use of such methods included misleading button designs that led players to unknowingly make purchases.
FTC 表示，Epic 使用此類方法包括誤導性按鈕設計，導致玩家在不知不覺中進行購買。
 
For example, players could be charged while trying to wake the game from a sleeping state or while the game was still loading. Users could also be charged just by pressing buttons while trying to look at an object they might want to buy.
例如，玩家可能會在嘗試將游戲從休眠狀態(tài)喚醒時或游戲仍在加載時充電。用戶也可以通過在嘗試查看他們可能想要購買的物品時按下按鈕來收費。
 
Such methods led to "hundreds of millions of dollars in unauthorized charges" for users, the FTC said.
FTC 表示，此類方法導致用戶遭受“數(shù)億美元的未經授權的收費”。

The privacy accusations involved the collection of personal information from children under age 13 who played Fortnite. The FTC said the data collection violated the agency's Children's Online Privacy Protections Rule, or COPPA. That rule sets requirements on operators of websites or online services directed at children under 13 years of age.
隱私指控涉及收集 13 歲以下玩過《堡壘之夜》的兒童的個人信息。FTC 表示，數(shù)據(jù)收集違反了該機構的兒童在線隱私保護規(guī)則 (COPPA)。該規(guī)則對針對 13 歲以下兒童的網站或在線服務的運營商提出了要求。
 
The FTC said its investigation found that Epic knew many children were playing Fortnite and that it collected personal information from them without getting parental permission. In addition, the agency said Epic required "unreasonable" methods for parents requesting that their children's personal information be removed.
美國聯(lián)邦貿易委員會表示，其調查發(fā)現(xiàn) Epic 知道很多孩子在玩《堡壘之夜》，并且在沒有獲得父母許可的情況下收集了他們的個人信息。此外，該機構表示，Epic要求父母以“不合理”的方式要求刪除孩子的個人信息。
 
Epic also violated another FTC rule by turning on real-time voice and text communications for children and teenagers by default, the agency said. This violation could result in children and teens being connected online with strangers to play Fortnite together.
該機構表示， Epic 還默認為兒童和青少年開啟實時語音和文本通信，這違反了另一項 FTC 規(guī)定。這種違規(guī)行為可能會導致兒童和青少年與陌生人在線聯(lián)系，一起玩《堡壘之夜》。
 
This action "harmed" children and teens, the FTC said. In some cases, children and teens were subjected to bullying and threatening behavior while playing Fortnite, the agency added.
FTC 表示，這一行為“傷害”了兒童和青少年。該機構補充說，在某些情況下，兒童和青少年在玩《堡壘之夜》時會受到欺凌和威脅行為。
 
The FTC said Epic employees had expressed concerns as early as 2017 about Fortnite's default settings.
FTC 表示，Epic 員工早在 2017 年就對《堡壘之夜》的默認設置表示擔憂。
 
Epic said in a statement it had agreed to accept the FTC settlement because it wants "to be at the forefront of (user) protection and provide the best experience for our players." The company said, "No developer creates a game with the intention of ending up here."
Epic在一份聲明中表示，它已同意接受 FTC 和解，因為它希望“站在（用戶）保護的最前沿，并為我們的玩家提供最佳體驗。” 該公司表示，“沒有開發(fā)者創(chuàng)造一款游戲是為了結束這里。”
 
Epic said it had already taken steps to improve the design of its payment system "to provide the largest amount of clarity" to players making purchase decisions. "Games should go above and beyond to make sure players even more clearly understand when they are making a purchase" with real or digital money to prevent accidental purchases, the company said.
Epic 表示，它已經采取措施改進其支付系統(tǒng)的設計，以“為做出購買決定的玩家提供最大程度的清晰度”。該公司表示，“游戲應該超越并確保玩家更清楚地了解他們何時使用真實或數(shù)字貨幣進行購買”，以防止意外購買。
 
To protect children, Epic said it had increased the number of parental controls in the game. It also said it created a new kind of account for players under 13 that disables some parts of the game, including communications and in-game purchases.
為了保護兒童，Epic 表示已經增加了游戲中家長控制的數(shù)量。它還表示，它為 13 歲以下的玩家創(chuàng)建了一種新的帳戶，可以禁用游戲的某些部分，包括通信和游戲內購買。